I wonder how many readers of this blog have watched a TED talk? I am a loyal TED fan myself, and often draw great inspiration from their talks. More importantly though, I watch these speeches to familiarise myself with great presentation skills. We all know how important communication is at the work place.

TED is short for technology, entertainment, design. It is an American non-profit organisation, best known for the talks that they host. It was founded in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman.

TED was first started by a group of friends to discuss topics on the three aspects mentioned earlier. Over time, it expanded to include ideas from fields such as education, arts, business, culture, and science. The invited speakers are all elites and intellectuals of our time, and they all have exciting ideas to share.

As it is, TED is the most influential public speaking platform in the world. Throughout its history, it has successfully shared countless inspirational, intellectual and ground-breaking speeches—this was precisely what TED was set up to do. It was a platform to allow the spreading of “ideas worth sharing”.

To me, TED was a powerful avenue through which I learned many groundbreaking issues and perspectives. More importantly, I picked up some presentation and communication skills.

I have always understood that our lives cannot be separated from “speaking”—especially in the work place. Be it communication between employers and employees, in meetings, in proposals to clients, and asking for a raise; anyone that is able to communicate and persuade effectively automatically gets a huge advantage.

On the contrary, when you are unable to clearly present your thoughts, you subject yourself to doubts and a poor professional image. This is why I work very hard to perfect my communicating abilities.

For example, every time Mon Space has a new project, I need to have a meeting with my team, and follow that up with a proposal to our client or board of directors. The presentation of these reports are of utmost importance. A succinct, impactful and clear proposal would immensely increase the chances of your suggestion being approved.

As technology advances, so do the tools that aid public speaking and presentation: projected imagery, sound systems, videos, special effects etc. Nevertheless, the core of the art remains: to persuade and influence people through communicating a message, and ultimately causing behavioural change in your audience.

1.Be Relatable

We are sharing a story or a message with our audience. For it to create impact, it has to have some elements of self-involvement. Include some personal experience, because true stories are so much more relatable.

Renowned human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson holds the record for having the longest standing ovation from a TED talk. He did it without using any visual aid! What was his secret? He shared that he intentionally told a story about himself that he knew would incite strong emotions with the audience.

He said: “You need to bond with your audience, so if your speech is too dry and not relatable to the average person, you will lose the audience very quickly. Usually I talk about my family, children, or vulnerable people. These stories make my message much clearer and more interesting.”

2.Keep It Simple

Abraham Lincoln famously said in the 1863 Gettysburg Address: “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say; but it can never forget what brave men did here.” It was a very short speech, yet it went down in history as one of the most influential and memorable one (seems like people do remember what Lincoln said after all).

This is the power of keeping your message succinct and straight to the point. TED requires all of its speakers to speak under 18 minutes, which is the general attention span of humans. It is a test of the presenter’s ability to fully deck out a message and its impact, to keep the audience interested, and make sure they have something to bring home.

3.Be Sincere. Let Your Audience Resonate with You

Brené Brown, veteran psychologist and author of “The Power of Vulnerability”, shared in TED: if you want your speech to make an impact, then you cannot afford to copy someone else. You need to be sincere. As an audience, I always resonate most with speakers who let their true feelings show.

Chris Anderson also said: “A speech is not just about turning written words into sounds. It is also about the things that words can’t express—body language, intonation, pauses, expressions, eye-contact, passion, and observation of your audience—all these are where the magic truly lies.”

4.Creating Trust with Body Language

Lastly, watch your body language. One cannot overestimate the importance of this. Studies have shown that the more complex your thought process is, the more likely you would have complex hand gestures. Incidentally, this also makes the audience trust the speaker more.

Amy J. C. Cuddy, Harvard psychology professor and a TED speaker shared that body language helps us define ourselves. It also affects how other people see us.

Some tips she shared in her TED talk includes: slightly stretching out your arms to create a “sphere of influence”, keeping your hand gestures within a certain area etc.

If you are not great with public speaking or expressing yourself, and wish to improve, I urge you to check out TED. Through their speeches, you would learn invaluable ideas, and pick up public speaking tips and tricks which will ultimately help you in your career![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]职场工作者必备能力：说话技巧 TED 4贴士让你说服人心